Volvo Cars on Wednesday became the first mainstream automaker to sound the death knell of the internal combustion engine, saying that all the models it introduces starting in 2019 will be either hybrids or powered solely by batteries.

I think the real question is "did the person who wrote the article understand it"? I have gotten ever so more dissatisfied with the poor quality of news articles. "to sound the death knell of the internal combustion engine" sounds exactly like hyperbole that a writer would use.

On a similar topic (but which has nothing to do with Volvo, but rather with hybrids), I've pretty much decided that my next "ICE" purchase will be a plug-in hybrid EV (PHEV). I've been saying for a long time now (to my friends, or in causal conversation) that many families could easily get by with one full electric and one 'normal' vehicle (provided the *type* of vehicle that they want/need is available as an electric). There is one driver that, on any given day, doesn't need to drive more than 60 miles - it doesn't even have to be the same person every day. THAT person takes the EV, the other driver takes the other car. Obviously, this doesn't work if ONE person HAS to have a particular vehicle that day (picking up lumber in the truck, or picking up 5 kids in the minivan) AND the other has to drive greater than the EV range, so that eliminates families where that happens fairly often. That isn't my case.

I am part of a family, and I am positive that the two of us (both of us) drive over 80 miles the same day less than once every year. So a PHEV and full-electric (BEV) fit our situation. In my mind (in my case) it breaks down like this (assuming a PHEV with 30 miles electric range, and a BEV with ~80 miles range) :

- if both people drive < 25 miles that day it doesn't matter who drives what- if one driver needs to drive >25, but < 80 miles, they take the BEV (it's within the range) and the other person the PHEV- if one person is going to drive 25-50 miles but has a chance to fully recharge during the day, they can take the PHEV (if that is their preferred, or required, vehicle)- if only one (not both) driver needs to drive close to (or more) than the range of the BEV without easy recharge, they take the PHEV- if the family takes a trip, they take the PHEV

This fits my family to a 'T' as it is not common for anybody (no car) drives > 60 miles on a daily or weekly basis (and if so, it is almost always ONE person and not both). We rarely drive over 90 miles in a day. And one person (ONE of us) generally drives 20-ish miles (max) during the day. And we have no 'specialty' needs (pickup truck, or snow capability or large family minivan). So we will be driving close to 98% electric. Those times we need to go out of the all-battery range, we take the clean(ish), high mileage hybrid (PHEV). That is my reasoning.

I was really happy to hear the announcement (a while ago) of the now-shipping Chrysler Pacifica plug-in hybrid (PHEV) . A full-size (family) minivan with almost 30 miles of all electric range! *I* don't need that, but that is perfect for urban and suburban moms. Run out to drop off the kids at school, stop at the store. Recharge. Afternoon, pick up kids, do the soccer run, pick up somebody from music (or whatever) class, go home, recharge. I haven't driven one, so I don't know if it is a piece of crap or not, but the idea is appealing. The Ford C-Max just was just on the edge of being big enough for families of 4 (with friends). And I also have never driven a C-Max Energi, so it could be a piece-o-crap as well - I don't know. The ideas though, is good. We (the people of the planet) are still needing a PHEV pickup, and a PHEV SUV, so that *most* runs are electric, and the 'efficient' highway runs can be made on gasoline power.

MY 'goal' (well, "happy spot") would be a 100+ mile BEV and a PHEV with at least 30 miles (40 is better) of all electric range. 120-140 miles round-trip is rarely driven by my house and we could almost always take the BEV, 340 days out of the year, for nearby trips. The 120 is more for comfort, 100 would be sufficient for almost all days, but I think the extra 20 miles range would be for my mental comfort in 'new' driving situations ("it's 90 miles round-trip, and since I supposedly have 120 miles of range I won't have to worry about wind or A/C or other issues, and IF there is a hiccup then a 30 minute level-2 charge will add 15 miles, enough to get back in my comfort zone")